Doris Kearns Goodwin provided the keynote address for the EDUCAUSE 2007 Conference “Information Futures: Aligning Our Missions.” With stories about Abraham Lincoln, she outlined nine individual qualities that make a leader great. According to my notes: 1) listen to different points of view, 2) the ability to learn on the job, 3) share credit for success, 4) shoulder blame for failure, 5) be aware of your own weaknesses, 6) be able to control emotions, 7) adhere to fundamental goals, 8} know how to relax and replenish energies, 9) manage by walking around. Lincoln’s desire to make the world a better place and his ability to avoid making permanent enemies represent an ideal that would serve any country well. Let’s hope we have such a choice in 2008.
Xavier’s David Dodd, VP for Information Resources and CIO, and Doug Ruschman, Director of Web Services, presented “Xavier University’s Web 2.0 Strategy: The Virtual Learning Commons.” Their Learning Commons is based on shared spaces, shared services, and essential relationships. Their Virtual Learning Commons featured current student-created videos which prospective students viewed and voted on along with other social networking opportunities for incoming students. Xavier is attempting to meet the needs of 21st century learners by carefully listening to its constituents.
“What Can You Do? The Rest of the Copyright Story” outlined the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) copyright education initiative which is based on what copyright law supports rather than what it prohibits. The presenters for this session were Peggy Hoon, Special Assistant to the Provost for Copyright Administration at North Carolina State; Robert Hoon, Associate General Counsel, University of North Carolina at Wilmington; and Tom Miller, Vice Provost for Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) at North Carolina State University.
“A Discussion on Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation User Values” was led by Robert McDonald, Chronopolis Project Manager , San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego; Richard Sweeney, University Librarian, New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Tyler Walters, Associate Director for Technology & Resource Services, Library & Information Center, Georgia Institute of Technology. Five library disconnects were identified: personalized/customized, impatience/speed, technology for groups, push versus pull, and intellectual property issues. Here are some of the characteristics of a millennial: collaborative, open to change, experiential learners, nomadic, social networkers, personalization important, speed, drawn to multimedia, less individualistic, less self-reliant, warm and outgoing.
